“Joey Belladonna was always a great singer and super unique sounding.”
— John Bush / Armored Saint

LOS ANGELES, California — The latest episode of the Get On The Bus youtube channel sits down with metal front-man John Bush.

Bush is mostly known for his work with a Los Angeles based band he helped co-found in Armored Saint, but he also fronted the New York based Anthrax as well for a period from the 1990’s into the 2000’s.

Bush, 61, talks about the band’s history and his history related to other projects in this clip including his time with Armored Saint, Anthrax and almost joining Metallica.

Related to Anthrax, Bush heaps praise on the band’s classic vocalist stating; “Joey Belladonna was always a great singer and super unique sounding.”

Bush talks about coming up on the Hollywood and Southern California club scene shouting out the Troubadour, the Country Club, Whisky-A-Go-Go, along with Orange Country area clubs like Jezabel’s Night Club, The Woodstock Theater, and the Bay Area scene as well noting The Stone in San Francisco, Ruthie’s Inn in Berkeley.

At some point Bush shares some past regrets pointing out that Armored Saint didn’t tour The U.K. and Europe as much in the 80’s as other similar metal acts stating (transcribed by Metal Sludge); “Nothing that keeps me awake at night… there were certainly things I would do differently”, says the singer adding; “One of the things that always pissed us off, ahh back in the day is that we never, Armored Saint never went to Europe, and toured Europe or Britain properly. We didn’t get to Europe until like 1991… for the first time. I was on the cover of KERRANG! Magazine, umm, I was like, ‘shouldn’t we be going to Britain, I mean, I am on the cover?'”

“I think we would have been a much bigger band, had we been going (to Europe) consistently,” adds Bush.

“In the early 1980s, Bush was invited by Metallica to join them as lead singer. Even after the release of Kill ‘Em All, Metallica vocalist James Hetfield felt unsure about his own singing abilities. Hetfield wanted to concentrate on his guitar and personally asked Bush to join Metallica. Bush was the only vocalist that the band considered as a potential frontman. He turned down the offer as he wanted to stay with Armored Saint, due in part to wanting to remain loyal to his longtime friends in Armored Saint.”
— source Wikipedia

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